All posts filed under: photography

Originally posted on mailbox mermaid: I never thought I would say this, but with temperatures skyrocketing to the 90s and beyond in Massachusetts this week, I’m rather missing the temperate/constantly rainy climes of my time in England! Though we dodged raindrops with every outing, at least each drizzly day was bearable with an umbrella and a coat. I actually enjoy staying inside on a rainy day; conversely, I feel guilty for avoiding the outdoors when the sun is shining. Yet that’s exactly what I’ll have to do over the next few days until the East Coast decides to chill! I suppose it will give me a good opportunity to look back through some more of my photos capturing moments in the English woods… One of the most delightful places I visited on my trip was an urban farm on Bidston Hill, named after Tam O’Shanter. It was a lovely place to stroll and offered plenty of opportunities to say hello to the resident animals, from geese– –to goats! I only wish our fellow visitors (many with…

Originally posted on HappyHealthyHouseholds: Guests, a home full of extra babies, sister, great friends and love. Fruit stand hoping, camping, beaches, still guests, and I might have even got married in the midst of it all! So much has happened already and we are really just headed into the 2nd full week of summer holidays (3rd full week for some!) We have packed so much summer into such a short period of time, I feel like we are much farther in than the 11th of July. So remember that one time, I talked about all the excitement of the season of fruit stands and farmers markets? Here in the Okanagan there is really no shortage. While we were lucky enough to have the other half of HHH stay with us an extra week after the wedding, I also had Jeff… the HUBBY… off for a week on holidays as well! What better time to get a few things crossed off my producey-bucket-list. So fruit stand hoping we did. The first round consisted only of 4…

Originally posted on mailbox mermaid: The Lake District is the place where many (non-British) forest girls’ dreams were born–exploring the land of Beatrix Potter and Wordsworth felt like returning to a childhood home that I’d never visited before. I imagined all the romanticized visions of idyllic woods-and-country life from children’s stories playing out before me as we drove by the lakes and trees and mountains and stone cottages… The first stop, though, was a place entirely unlike a simple “cottage”: Blackwell, a great Arts & Crafts manor decorated in the most beautiful Art Nouveau-esque style. Every grand, sweeping room included tiny windowside reading nooks, tucked-away places for contemplation and creation. (So who wants to contribute to the “let me live in an Arts & Crafts house in the Lake District” fund? I promise it will be a good investment [for me, at least]!) Everything from the wall friezes to the books on display reflected the same core design values of simplicity, beauty, and a connection to nature. Works for me! Speaking of connections to nature, each room…

Originally posted on for the love of nike : I think we all hate those mushy-gushy-corny-worny-heap-o-cheap Valentine’s gifts you’d imagine have been sitting in a Walgreens warehouse since they weren’t sold last February. Instead of giving in to a made up holiday and buying some piece of junk that’ll just get thrown out in a few months, I like to get creative and find another way to tell my loved ones that they rock. See what I mean? If you’re diggin’ it, take a closer look and click below. It’s time to get personal and give personal, whether your person is into Emily Dickinson, a sneakerhead, nature lover, or a Where The Wild Things Are fan. ?

So today, this happened… permission to judge! I don’t think I need to actually write a post here. You can clearly see for yourself that today was a bad day for the diet. But it’s ok. As with life nowadays, I’m not going to beat myself up about it. Just move on, and continue to try… I mean, how is anyone supposed to turn away from this?? Ok, one friend did – yay her. But I couldn’t. Nu uh! Not a chance! Needless to say I couldn’t finish it, but I god damn well tried! It was a Galaxy flippin’ Cheesecake… go figure!

Originally posted on mailbox mermaid: Considering it’s only January 19, I’d say that I’m doing relatively well with accomplishing my minor goals for 2016. In the past few weeks, I’ve nearly doubled my daily reading time, spiced up my typical routine with biweekly zumba classes, and made a few valiant efforts to meet or spend time with fellow humans in the area. (I’m still working on hanging out with fellow extraterrestrials, of course, but that may take a while. Unless they come to Earth solely to catch the X-Files reboot next week.) Unsurprisingly, I have also managed to maintain my letter-writing productivity, and am slowly getting around to answering all of my wonderful holiday mail. With so many letters to answer and so much winter dreariness to combat, I’m enjoying the opportunity to cut loose and go wild with colorful patterns, papers, and tape! These hand-decorated envelopes all ended up in last week’s outgoing mail pile–and are ideally now on their way to Ireland, North Carolina, and Canada, respectively. True to form, I continue to aggressively deny the existence of winter,…

Originally posted on Little Brantley Abroad: Today marks my last day in Bondi Beach before I head home for the holidays. I don’t know how, but from the moment I arrived, this beach town felt like home to me. Yes, it is a beautiful beach with attractive Aussie men running around 😉 but there is so much more to it. The people here are so kind and filled with great energy, anything you need is just a few steps away, and it has provided me with more incredible sunsets than I could have ever imagined. If you have a trip to Sydney planned, don’t miss out on a day in this spectacular place. Here’s how to have the perfect day in Bondi: Breakfast in Bondi: The restaurants in Bondi are so good that I will be posting a full article about all the delicious places to get brekkie, but for the sake of this post, I would recommend Speedos Cafe! Not only is their food amazing to photograph, it’s also delicious. (Below are their cronuts and pink…

Originally posted on Erin Leigh Ever After: A big problem about catching the travel bug is being 22 and broke. A quick-fix solution for this is to keep your trips short and sweet. This sparked the two-day trip to Washington D.C. my boyfriend Nick and I took this fall. Luckily, we live within driving distance (about two and a half hours), which of course saves tons on travel costs! We got there on a Saturday morning and left by Sunday night, but had a awesome, activity packed two days in the nation’s capital. After sitting in traffic most of the morning I finally got into D.C. and met Nick (who was coming from school in Virginia) at The MadHatter. The restaurant was unsurprisingly decked out in all things Alice in Wonderland, but in an almost subtle way that wasn’t completely overwhelming. I didn’t feel like I was in Disneyland; instead there was an assortment of portraits and memorabilia of Alice and the gang along the wood-paneled walls, which I absolutely loved! After a waffle-filled and lovely brunch, we headed over to…

Originally posted on TRVL 101: Every travel blogger has made some sort of post on how they find the cheapest flights. The stereotypical answers may be “be flexible with your dates” or “be flexible with your destinations” yada yada yada. Yes, both of those are useful, but I’m going to show you the best tools, applications, and websites for finding the cheapest flights. These are in no particular order of importance; solely the order in which they come to my mind! Hitlist – The Google Chrome Application Okay, I lied, I did put this one first because it is definitely my new favorite. If you use Google Chrome, I highly suggest adding this tool. Essentially, every time you open a new tab on your screen, a shot like this pops up showing amazing deals to random places. If you like it, you click “Flights” and it’ll take you to flight radar where you can see the dates and the website to purchase it from. It’s quite easy to install; here’s how to do it. On your bookmarks bar,…